Anousheh Ansari

  • Soyuz TMA -8 TMA-9/Sojus (2006)

Anousheh Ansari (Persian انوشه انصاری [ ænu ri ː ː ː ʃɛ ænsɔ ]; born September 12, 1966 in Mashhad, Iran) is an American- Iranian multimillionaire and the first space tourist.

Life

Ansari was born Anousheh Rassiyan in Iran and spent childhood and adolescence. In 1982, she emigrated to the United States, because in their home at the time - Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in 1979 - could not study science subjects, since the universities were closed for two years. The parents allowed the meantime naturalized Ansari to move in with their aunt in Virginia on the east coast of the United States. At George Mason University in Fairfax (Virginia), she studied electrical engineering and computer science ( degree in 1989 as Bachelor). At the George Washington University ( GWU ) in the U.S. capital, she continued her studies and received in 1992 a master's degree in electrical engineering. Currently, Ansari is working on her master's degree in astronomy at the Australian Swinburne University of Technology.

During her studies at GWU Ansari worked for the U.S. telecoms group MCI Worldcom in Washington, where she met the originating also from Iran Hamid Ansari engineer and married in 1991. Two years later she left with her husband MCI and they formed their own company in the communications industry.

Anousheh, Hamid and his brother Amir Ansari could be then in Texas north of Dallas in Plano down. Located in the small town of Richardson, between Dallas and Plano, founded the three 1993, the Internet company tii ( telecom technologies incorporated ). Hamid became president, Anousheh took over as CEO (Chief Executive Officer ) and Amir was appointed technical director (Chief Technology Officer ). In 2000, the U.S. group Sonus Networks acquired for 550 million U.S. dollars tti and Anousheh headed for a short time, the Sonus daughter IntelligenTip.

With the money, Sonus Networks, the three Ansari founded a new company: Prodea Systems is a private equity firm, which has its headquarters in Plano.

On the 43rd anniversary of Alan Shepard's suborbital flight into space Prodea donated a large sum to the X Prize Foundation. Anousheh and her brother Amir gave on 5 May 2004 announced that it has supported the Foundation with several million U.S. dollars. The X-Prize was subsequently renamed in honor of the donor in the Ansari X - Prize.

In March 2006 it was announced that the entrepreneur will fly as a space tourist with a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). In April 2006 she started as a replacement for the Japanese Daisuke Enomoto to train, originally in September 2006 should start with Soyuz TMA -9. Only a month earlier Enomoto was taken surprising for health reasons from the team and Ansari appointed as a member of the starting crew, which started on 18 September 2006 to the ISS. On September 20 at 7:21 CEST she reached the ISS. Their return to Earth on 29 September, Soyuz TMA- 8 and the ISS Expedition 13

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